About a year ago I stopped making regular updates to this blog to concentrate on my Namnesia Antidote blog. While that is an ongoing effort, I am starting what should be about a year long effort to revitalize the concept of a "This Day in History" blog. I have decided to leave this blog intact and as-is, using a new "This Day in History 2.0" blog for my expanded and full version. Please feel free to email with your ideas. The two tables below should allow you to find a posting for the "Day in History" you wish to research.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

August 21......

August 21 is the 233rd (234th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 132 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Alienation "The trouble with me is that I'm an outsider. And that's a very hard thing to be in American life." — Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Iraq War "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction [to justify the Iraq War], because it was the one reason everyone could agree on." — Paul Wolfowitz, explaining the Bush administration's rationale for war

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: On Politics "I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version." — Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony

Thought for the day: "Home to a young boy is merely a filling station."

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

A Red Dome Under the Big Dipper

Credit & Copyright: M. Colleen GinoClick picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

● 1245 - Alexander of Hales, 59, died. An English scholastic theologian, Alexander is regarded as the founder of the Franciscan school of theology.

● 1560 - Tycho Brahe becomes interested in astronomy

● 1621 - One widow and 11 maidens consigned to the Virginia colony are ordered to be sold at the rate of 120 pounds of tobacco for each.

● 1680 - Spanish survivors of the Pueblo Indian revolt abandon Santa Fe, flee in a 300+ mile retreat to El Paso, leaving to native peoples -- for a while, anyway -- an area that will become known as New Mexico. In 1692 Diego de Vargas recaptures the territory and destroys nearly all the Pueblo villages. The only known town to survive his wrath is Acoma, the oldest continuously inhabited U.S. community.

● 1752 - Birth of Jacques Roux (1752-1794), Charente. French revolutionist, known as the pitiless and sometimes cruel "Red Priest," but also a precursor of socialism and modern anarchism. Denounced those monopolizing the revolution, the speculator, the merchant -- and also government and the whole apparatus of the parliamentary state. A spokesman of poorest "sans-culottes," and incited women to assert their rights.

● 1760 - The church (later cathedral) of "Our Lady of Candlemas of Mayagüez (Puerto Rico)" is founded, establishing the basis for the founding of the city.

● 1770 - James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

● 1772 - King Gustav III completes his coup d'etat by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing him as an enlightened despot.

● 1799 - Birth of Alexander R. Reinagle, English church organist. He penned many sacred compositions, including ST. PETER, which afterward became the melody to the hymn, "In Christ There is No East or West."

● 1810 - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

● 1821 - Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the Eliza Frances.

● 1831 - Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Virginia, initiated when Turner killed his owner, Joseph Travis, and Travis's family. Within the next 24 hours, Turner and an estimated 70 followers rampaged through Southampton County, Virginia, killing close to 60 whites, while attempting to incite other slaves into revolt. Militia and federal troops were called to Southampton County, and the uprising suppressed with over 100 African Americans being hanged -- many non-participants in the revolt.

● 1841 - The Venetian blind is first patented in the United States by John Hampson.

● 1842 - The city of Hobart, Tasmania, is founded.

● 1851 - New Orleans mob sacks the Spanish consulate when word reaches them that 51 Americans who set out from the city to "liberate" Cuba were captured and executed.

● 1866 - Birth of Civilla D. Martin, teacher and songwriter, in Nova Scotia. A pastor's wife, she penned in 1904 the hymn, "Be Not Dismayed, Whate'er Betide" (a.k.a. "God Will Take Care of You").

● 1874 - Popular 19th century preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was accused by Theodore Tilton of committing adultery with his wife. The resulting trial ended in a 9-3 hung jury decision, in Beecher's favor.

● 1878 - The American Bar Association was formed by a group of lawyers, judges and law professors in Saratoga, NY.

● 1879 - The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist reportedly appear to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.

● 1888 - The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

● 1893 - Emma Goldman leads a march of a 1,000 people to Union Square, in New York City, where, speaking in German and English, she repeats her belief that workers have a right to take bread if they are hungry, and to demonstrate their needs "before the palaces of the rich"; about 3,000 gather to listen. Goldman's speech is, next week, cited as the reason for her arrest.

● 1904 - Count Basie, who was one of the leading big-band leaders of American jazz was born in Red Bank, N.J.

● 1911 - The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.

● 1912 - Arthur R. Eldred became the first American boy to become an Eagle Scout. It is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.

● 1921 - During on-going labor disputes in the coalfields, such as Logan and Mingo Counties, the first unit of West Virginia National Guard -- Company I, 150th Infantry -- reactivated at Williamson. By the end of the year, 11 National Guard companies are organized -- all but one situated in or near the nonunion coal fields.

● 1923 - In Kalamazoo, Michigan, an ordinance was passed forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner.

● 1927 - 4th Pan-African Congress meets (NYC)

● 1927 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis refuses to hear request for stay of execution in the case of the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti.

● 1930 - Pioneer linguistic educator Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter: 'If this entire universe has a desperate need of love to incarnate itself, then "important duties" which keep us from helping little people are not duties but sins.'

● 1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds that had inflicted by an assassin yesterday.

● 1942 - World War II: A Nazi flag is installed atop the Mount Elbrus.

● 1942 - World War II: Allied forces involved in the Guadalcanal campaign defeated an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

● 1942 - World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad began.

● 1943 - Japan evacuated the Aleutian island of Kiaska. Kiaska had been the last North American foothold held by the Japanese.

● 1944 - Over 4,000 Spaniards take part in the Maquis uprising in Nazi-occupied Paris that begins today. Before long they were supported by regular troops from the Normandy beach-heads.

● 1945 - U.S. President Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped about $50 billion in aid to America's Allies during World War II.

● 1952 - Strike against International Harvester by the United Electrical Workers.

● 1959 - Hawaii became the 50th state. U.S. President Eisenhower also issued the order for the 50 star flag.

● 1963 - In South Vietnam, martial law was declared. Xa Loi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.

● 1965 - Anti-Vietnam war protesters stage a sit-in in Vancouver, B.C., during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson.

● 1965 - Gemini 5 launched into Earth orbit (2 astronauts)

● 1968 - After 5 years Russia once again jams Voice of America radio

● 1968 - Democratic Convention opens in Chicago

● 1968 - James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

● 1986 - Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.

● 1986 - Giant glacier threatens eco disaster; A huge glacier in Alaska is threatening to cause an ecological disaster in the region.

● 1987 - A U.S. Marine was convicted for spying for the first time. Sergeant Clayton Lonetree was giving secrets to the KGB while working as a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He served eight years in a military prison.

● 1988 - An earthquake on the Nepal-India border killed over 1,000 people.

● 1988 - Cease fire between Iran & Iraq takes effect after 8 years of war

● 1989 - In Columbia, The estates of drug lords were raided in a crackdown that occurred after the killing of a presidential candidate.

● 1989 - Voyager 2, a U.S. space probe, got close to the Neptune moon called Tritan.

● 1991 - Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.

● 1991 - The hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ended. The uprising that led to the collapse was led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.

● 1992 - Airlift begins to relieve mass famine in Somalia.

● 1992 - Randall Weaver, a neo-Nazi leader, opened fire on U.S. marshals from his home in Idaho. Weaver surrendered 11 days later ending the standoff. During the standoff a deputy marshal, Weaver's wife and his son were killed.

● 1993 - NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft. The fate of the spacecraft was unknown. The mission cost $980 million.

● 1994 - Ernesto Zedillo won the Mexican presidential election.

● 1995 - In Jerusalem, Israel, a bus bombing by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) killed four and wounded more than 100.

● 1995 - Nine people died in a plane crash in Georgia.

● 1996 - Active Resistance Counter-Convention begins in Chicago for 10 days -- before, during, and after the 1996 Democratic National Convention that re-nominates Pres. Clinton.

● 1996 - The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was signed by U.S. President Clinton. The act made it easier to obtain and keep health insurance.

● 1997 - Afghanistan suspended its embassy operations in the United States.

● 1997 - Hudson Foods Inc. closed a plant in Nebraska after it had recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef that was potentially contaminated with E. coli 01557:H7. It was the largest food recall in U.S. history.

● 2001 - NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

● 2001 - The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

● 2002 - In Pakistan, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution. He extended his term in office and granted himself powers that included the right to dissolve parliament.

● 2002 - A jury in San Diego convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her home and killing her; he was later sentenced to death.

● 2003 - In Ghana, businessman Gyude Bryant was selected to oversee the two-year power-sharing accord between Liberia's rebels and the government. The accord was planned to guide the country out of 14 years of civil war.

● 2006 - British prosecutors announced that 11 people had been charged in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners bound for the United States.

● 2007 - Hurricane Dean makes its first landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico with winds at 165 mph. Dean is the first storm since Hurricane Andrew to make landfall as a Category 5.

● Roman Catholic:● St. Abraham of Smolensk● St. Anastasius Cornicularius● St. Apollinaris Sidonius● St. Avitus I of Clermont● St. Bassa and Companions● St. Cyriaca● St. Euprepius● St. Hardulph● St. Jane Frances, widow● St. Joseph Nien Vien● St. Leontius the Elder● St. Luxorius● St. Paternus● St. Pius X, pope● St. Quadratus

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for August 8 (Civil Date: August 21)● Afterfeast of the Transfiguration.● St. Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Cyzicus.● St. Myron, Bishop of Crete.● Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonides of Constantinople, and many infants martyred with them.● St. Gregory of Sinai (and Mt. Athos), iconographer of the Kiev Caves, Wonderworker of the Kiev Caves.● Translation of the Relics of Saints Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki.● New-Martyr Triandaphyllus of Thessaly.

● Greek Calendar:● Twelve Ascetics of Egypt.● Two Martyrs of Tyre.● Martyr Styracius.● "Tolga" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

● Eastern Orthodox:● St. Thaddaeus● St. Abraham of Smolensk

● Roman festivals - Consualia, in honor of Consus, is held.

● Ninoy Aquino Day - special holiday in the Philippines.

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"● Hawaii : Admission Day (1959) - ( Friday )● Michigan : Montrose-Blueberry Festival - ( Friday )

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

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About Me

Life long Liberal. Actually saw JFK on campaign trail. Defining moment of my life was the assassination of JFK. First presidential election I participated in was knocking on doors for McGovern, have been tilting at windmills ever since.